Fifty Books and Fifty Covers

Four of the 50 Books selections. Clockwise from top left, 3NÓS3 – Intervenções urbanas, book design by Elaine Ramos; School of Visual Arts Senior Library 2016, book design by Hinterland; Anne Imhof: Faust, designed by Zak Group; WORKac: We’ll Get There When We Cross That Bridge, book design by Neil Donnelly.

Announcing the 2017 50 Books | 50 Covers selections.

AIGA and Design Observer’s 50 Books | 50 Covers competition, which reviews and awards the best of book and cover designs published within the past year, has announced the  winning cover and winning book selections. Those selections become part of a nearly century-long tradition, a visual history of of book design available to the public in the AIGA Design Archives.

A few of the 50 Covers selections: Heating and Cooling, jacket design by Alex Merto; Twitter and Tear Gas, jacket design by Sonia L. Shannon; A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, jacket design by Utku Lomlu; The Vanishing Futurist, jacket design by La Boca; The Stampographer, jacket design by Vincent Sardon; The Colosseum Book, jacket design by Tassinari/Vetta; Clarice, jacket design by Máquina Estúdio; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, jacket design by TODA

This competition continues a tradition that dates back over ninety years, when American Institute of Graphic Arts, mounted the show The Fifty Books of 1923. The exhibition went right to the heart of what the then-fledgling profession held dear: the design and production of books. In an age where reading increasingly happens on screens, it is clear from the winning entries that designers and publishers are not just resigned to the new world but are actively challenging it. The jury—chaired by Jesica Helfand and consisting of Rodrigo Corral, Maricris Herrera, and Carin Goldberg—carefully considered the almost 800 entries from 40 different countries around the globe, including Australia, Brazil, Chile, India, Israel, Japan, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. These selections are the best of the best.

Four of the 50 Books selections. Clockwise from top left, Total Destruction of the National Museum of Anthropology, book design by Blair Richardson; Highbrow, Lowbrow, Brilliant, Despicable: 50 Years of New York, book design by Aaron Garza, Randy Minor, Christopher Cristiano; Bicycle Landscape, book design by 75B; The Visual History of Type, book design by Paul McNeil

We are happy to continue our commitment to books and book design, and feel honored to get to sit in a room with all the amazing entries.